Holder for stacks of soles.



G. ELBRITTAIN.

HOLDER FOR STACKS OF SOLES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8. 1915.

Patented Nov" 2 0, 191?.

2 SHEETS-SHEET X.

G. E. BRITTMN.

HOLDER FOR STACKS 0F SOLES.

APPucmoN ms!) MAR. 8. 1915.

Pmentei NOV. 2%, 191?.

2 SHEETSw-SHEET 2.

dc' V UNITED %TATE% PATENT GEORGE E. BRITTAIN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. ASSIGNOB T0 IRVING I4. KEITH,

OF HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS.

HOLDER, FOR STACKS 0F SOLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 24 191W.

Application filed March 8 915. Serial No. 12,803.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. BRITTAIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Sufl'olk'and State of Massachusetts, have invented an 1mprovement in Holders for Stacksof Soles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in clamping or holding devices for cemented soles, and more particularly to improvements on the device shown in my prior Patent #1016544, dated February 6, 1912, and reissued April 21, 1904, #13514.

In said prior device a base-board, or plate -was provided having upwardly inclined, or

raised end-portions, and on which two stacks of soles were piled toe to toe, said raised end-portions being adapted to hold the skived shank ends of the tap pieces in contact with the soles, so as to cause them to adhere, the soleg and taps of the two stacks being pressed together, or onto the base plate, in a press, by a flat board or plate which extended parallel to the horizontal portion of the base plate.

In practice, various difliculties have been encountered with this arrangement, particularly under some conditions of use. It has been found difiicult to secure a suiticiently uniform pressure on both stacks of soles, at the same time, to cause all the taps and soles therein to adhere satisfactorily. WVhile this difficulty could be largely avoided, if only one of the stacks were compressed at a time, yet to do this was undesirable for several reasons ;partly because of the additional time required to do the work, partly because the amount of equipment required would be greatly increased, and partly because of factory requirements, which make it practically necessary to handle the soles in case lots, making it undesirable to place part of a case in one stack and part in another. If, however, it was attempted to place a whole case of soles in a single stack, difliculties were encountered which made it impractical to do this with said prior devices. To do this, it was necessary to make a stack which was nearly, or quite 18 inches in height, o that, when it was attempted to strap them inplace, before putting them in the press, they were quite likely to be dis placed, and, as soon as the heavy pressure was applied to the stack of freshly cemented soles in a press, steak; was liable t9 bulge out in the middle, and break open, so that they would have to be piled over again. This difiiculty was found to be particularly great with soles of small sizes, in fact it was found to be practically impossible to compress a high stack of small soles without having the soles pressed out so as to break open the stack.

When a double stack of soles, thus compressed, between two sole-holding plates, usually termed boards as they are made of wood, were locked together by a single strap. of the type shown in my pending application, Serial No. 814,641, passed about the middle portions thereof, the boards were likely to spring apart at their ends so that the soles would not be properly held to gethcr throughout their entire lengths, and therefore would not adhere satisfactorily. If a single stack of soles, of twice the height of the double stacks, was placed between said sole-holding boards and pressed together and locked with one of said straps placed midway of the stack, even though the stack might have stayed in place while in the press, as soon a it was removed, so-that the boards were only bound together by the straps, their ends would be permitted to spring apart, and the flat surface of the upper board would become inclined away from the lower board, with the result that the line of pressure would be so directed as to press out and break open the stack. In any event, the springing apart of the ends of the boards was objectionable, even with a single stack of soles, as the ends thereof would not then be held under the desired amount of pressure while the cement was setting, so that the toe portions of the taps and soles were not properly cemented together, a defect which was even more objectionable than not having proper adhesion at the shanks.

The flexible straps which were extended across the sole stacks and attached to theside springs, to hold the soles in place before they were placed in the press, were found to be inadequate for the high stacks, moreover, it was found difficult to hold the soles in place while the straps and springs were adjusted, and operators were liable to stretch the springs unduly by drawing one or the other up or er the stack, to connect them, with the result that thesprings would P 13 ,u e aallv at rpe i ai h steels and cause the stack to tip sidewise, and either break open the stack, or separate the soles and taps at one side edge, so that they do not adhere at such portions.

The objects of my invention are to provide means for holding a large number, as a case, of freshly cemented soles in a stack, so that they will not become displaced while being transferred to a press, or when pressure is applied, or after they have been removed from the press, and are held in pressed relation by semi-flexible sole-engaging boards, and a holding strap at the middle thereof, and to provide forms of semiflexible sole-engaging boards which will hold. the sole-ends in suitably pressed relation, even though they may yield at their ends when held by a strap in the'middle. Also to provide an improved means for temporarily holding the stack of soles in place by springs, while it is being transferred to the press, which are so arranged that the possibility that one spring will be stretched more than the other, so as to cause unequal pressure at the sides of the stack, is avoided, thereby obviating the danger of having the stack tip or break open side-wise.

I accomplish these objects by the means shown in the accompanying drawing, in which 2- Figure l is a side elevation of a soleholding device, embodying my present invention, before outside pressure is applied thereto. 7

Fig. .2 is a similar view illustrating the same with the members held in pressed relation by a holding strap, after outside pressure has been applied.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of one of thesoleengaging members.

Fig. 4: is a cross sectional view taken at the line l'4 of Fig. 1. V

Fig. 5 is an end elevation illustrating the manner of forcing the sole-engaging memhers together. 7

As shown in the drawing, I provide a pair of sole-engaging members a and b, which are preferably of wood, with the grain running longitudinally, and are of sufficient thickness, so that they are substantially rigid, except that they may spring or bend, slightly, crosswise of the grain. The outer side a, Z), of each member, or board, as these parts may be conveniently termed, is flat, while the inner sides, (1 11 each have a sole-engaging face of approximately concave form, the middle portion being flat or parallel with their outer sides, while their end portions are concave, or inclined away from their-outer sides, the. end portions of the boards being gradually increased in thickness to provide for such construction. When the, twoboards are placed in. position, so that their concaved sides face each other, the end' portions, of

said sides will extend convergently. The extent to which said end portions are raised, or extended laterally beyond the level of the middle portions, may be somewhat varied according to conditions, the construction at each end being similar to that illustrated in my said prior patent, with the important exception, however, that the boards are approximately half the length, only, of those illustrated in said prior patent, so that the raised end portions of each board are arranged, respectively, to engage the toeand shank-end-portions of the fo'repart of the same sole, or the end-portions of'the same tap.

A pair of eyes 0 are mounted on the upper side of the bottom board a at each side thereof, or adjacent the side edge, approximately midway of its end, and acoil spring (Z is permanently attached to each eye; The top board I) is'provided with hooks e, similarly located to the eyes 0, and each spring (Z is provided with a ring at its free end which is adapted to be placed on a corresponding hook e;

The manner of lows-: V

The foreparts of the soles are coated with cement, and the tap pieces, having skived shank ends, are placed thereon, said soles and taps being placed alternately in a stack on the bottom board a, so that the toe-portions rest on. one raised end portion thereof, and the skived shank ends of the taps on the other, the springs cl of the board being, at that time, disconnectedfrom the top board 5, which is laid aside while the soles are being stacked; p

The soles and taps having thus been stacked on the board to the number desired, a case of 36 pairs being a common number, the workman then places the board -b on the top of the stack, with its face 6 downward, in the same relative position to the soles as the board a, and presses it down on the stack with one hand while he draws up the springs cl and connects them to the hooks a with the using the device is as folother. .The tension of saidsprings is suflicient tohold the board a in firm engagement with the top of the stack, and, as both boards a and bare transversely rigid, the pressure on the soles will be uniform, transversely, at all points of engagement.

In practice, a pair of U-shaped straps f and g are provided, the arms of which are telescopically connected in a manner similar to that disclosed in my pending application, Serial No. 814,641. 7 Said straps are'placed togetherin upright position with the lower strap restingv in arecessin the lower memher it ofa press, and. thestack of soles, held, as above described, between the boards a and b, are placed on saidpress member withingsaid straps, as indicated in Fig. 5. The press members it and z are forced together by a suitable power mechanism, pressing the boards a and Z2 against the soles with a heavy pressure and at the same time, pressing the straps f and 9 together telescopically, so that they are firmly held against the outer sides of the boards, and, while. thus held, their arms are locked together by cam levers 7c. The press members are then separated, and the compressed stack of soles is removed therefrom and set aside, the'straps holding the boards in pressing engagement with the stack until the cement is dry, after which the straps are disconnected and the soles removed;

With the above-described form of presser boards, when the pressure is applied to the stack of soles therethrough, as above described, it will be applied with much greater force at the ends of the boards, than at the middle, and practically no pressureis applied at the middle until after a firm pressure has been-applied to the ends. As compared with my said prior devices for the same purpose, it will be seen that, instead of applying the heavy pressure at the middle portionof the stack, which, if not applied at opposite sides in practicallyidentically the same opposing lines of force, will tend to cause the stack to be broken open, I apply it, with my improved construction, in such a manner that there are two sets of opposing forces at opposite ends of the boards, and, on account of the obliquity and disposition of the pressing faces, the pressing forces, which are perpendicular to said faces, are directed obliquely inward, with relation to the center line of the stack, instead of outward, or approximately parallel thereto, so that all the opposing forces tend to hold the stack in position, rather than to break it open.

It follows, therefore, that, whether the boards are forced, or held against the ends of the stack of soles by the springs, the press, or the straps, the lines of force will be directed in the manner above indicated, so that the pressure applied to the stack will not tend to break it open.

Moreover, when the press-members are separate, so that the strain of holding the boards a and b in pressing relation is thrown wholly onto the U-shaped straps, the tendency for the end portions of the boards to spring apart, on account of their being bound together at their middle portions only, will not be sufficient to disturb conditions to a substantial extent. That is, assuming the boards were held in the dotted line positions of Fig. 2, before they were removed from the press, and that they spring apart to the full line position of said figure when removed therefrom, the end faces still extending in convergent relation, although to a less extent, it will be apparent that the lines of force will still be directed inward,

The boards are sufficiently stiff to preclude the possibility that they; will be sprung so far that their end faces diverge, and until this point is reached, there will be no force tendingto break open the stack.

While the above-described arrangement is primarily advantageous for reasons already explained, it has been found that, by applying an excess of pressure to the end portrons of the sole foreparts, or taps, better results are secured, as practically all danger of failure of the taps and. soles to adhere at the toes, due to the application of greater pressure at the middle portions than, at the ends, is avoided, while the skived shank ends of the taps are caused to adhere throughout the stack, which they frequently did not do with prior methods.

While the effects of the springing of the boards has been referred to as a difficulty to be overcome, with the above-described construction it becomes an advantage, rather than a disadvantage, in that it permits the application of the full pressure to the middle portions of the soles, while at the same time, causing the application of an excess pressure to the end portions thereof, which is especially desirable, so that the boards are made of wood of such thickness and character as to permit springing to the extent indicated.

In case it is desired to pile a stack of soles of different sizes and compress them in the manner above described, the soles of larger size are placed at the bottom of the stack and the others are piled thereon in the order of their sizes, with the smallest at the top. It is necessary, under these conditions, also, to have the tips of the toes in the same per pendicular line, so that the shank ends of the taps are held in an inclined line, with the result that but little, if any pressure will be applied by the inclined portion of the face of the upper board directly over the shank ends, so that there would be unbalanced forces which would tend to disturb conditions when the boards were held by the springs. To avoid this difliculty, I may supply the upper board with an extra hook at the side of the middle of the upper board toward the tips of the sole, so that the pull of the spring may be more nearly at the middle of the top of the stack, as indicated by the dotted position of Fig. 1. The same result may be secured by securing the springs, at both ends, at a short distance to one side of the middle, and by using the top board in opposite positions, in one of which the springs will be perpendicular and, in the other, will be oblique.

It has been noted that the boards a and b are rigid transversely, and it may be further noted that in practice, they are substantially wider than the width of the widest sole, which is to be placed thereon, and, as the springs are attached to hooks'in the projecting side portion of the top board, the operator, inattaching them, merely draws the springs up to the hooks, so that he is unlikely to stretch them beyond this point, as he was likely to do in attaching them to the straps shown in my said prior patent, so

that, if the springs are first made of equal strength, the possibility that they will become unequally stretched or weakened is remote;

Moreover, by having the holding means, to whi'ehthe springs are attached,-and which engages the top of the stack, transversely, 1 rigid, so that the pressure applied thereto is uniform, the danger that the soles and taps 2. A device for pressing together a stack of soles, comprisinga pair of pressing members having oppositely disposed sole-engaging faces, the corresponding end portions of which extend iconvergently, said members being slightly resilient 'to permit said end portions to swing said faces toward rela tively parallel positions when said members are positively bound together at their middle portions. 7 v

3. AJsole-clamping device comprising a pair of transversely rigid members having convergently extending sole-enga ing faces at each end, for respectively engaging the toe and shank end-portions of a sole forepart, and a pair of springs connected to the middle portions of said members adjacent their edges.

4; A sole-clamping device comprising a pair of slightly resilient sole-pressing members having oppositely disposed, sole-engaging faces, the corresponding end-portions of which extend convergently, and a metal strap extending about the middle portion of each member, to prevent separation of such portions and permitting the end portions thereof to spring apart.

5. A sole-clamping pair of oblong, wooden, sole-pressingboards having the grain of the wood extending longitndinally thereof iand formed to provideoppositely-.disposed,sole engaging faces, the corresponding endportions of which extend convergently, and means binding the middle portions of said boards together and permitting the end-portions thereofto spring a art.

in testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. V, ,4 I

' GEORGE E. BRITTAIN. Witnesses:

L. "H; HARRIMA'N,

B. DAVIS.

flopiisiot =this'i1iatent myme .6htained for :five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of ,i's tents,

. Washington, l0. ,0.

device comprising a r 

